Numerous innovations have hitherto been introduced in designing golf balls with a multilayer construction and many such balls have been developed to satisfy the needs of professional golfers and skilled amateurs. For example, functional multi-piece solid golf balls in which the surface hardnesses of the respective layers—i.e., the core, intermediate layer and cover (outermost layer)—have been optimized are widely used.
Examples of such multi-piece solid golf balls include those disclosed in JP-A 2002-765, JP-A 2016-112308, JP-A 2015-77405, JP-A 2015-47502, JP-A 2017-77355 and U.S. Pat. No. 9,855,466. However, these are golf balls having a specified core hardness profile and specified surface hardnesses for the respective layer-encased spheres. As golf balls for professional golfers and skilled amateurs, there remains room for further improvement in terms of, for example, achieving an even better flight performance and obtaining a good controllability on approach shots.